Visual Pollution

An Aesthetic Pollution Causes Eyesore

De: Sivakumaran Sivaramanan

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Sightings of garbage at open dumping, curbside wastes, beach trash and various litter, badly maintained or abandon buildings, curb graffiti, spray painted names and messages, hoardings, billboards, street banners, advertisement signs, electronic signs and public LED screens, telephone and utility poles, telephone, electricity and TV cables and wires, damaged vehicles and buildings, curbside weeds, aquatic weeds and eutrophic lakes, oil spills, curbside potholes, beggars, street children, smog/ haze and smoke could be an eyesore to the viewer, visual-clutter by dazzling billboards is common in mega cities. LED screens and lightings could be misunderstood as traffic signal lights and may cause accidents, intense glare of the vehicle head lamps or the open theater like screening advertisements could divert the concentration of the driver or hamper the traffic. Open dumping has to be banned in developing countries and effective environmental legislation such as implementation of polluter pay principle could be a vital mitigation for curbside waste. Curbside begging and accidents is an eyesore to the public, instead, curbside role plays such as playing guitar, street dancing and fancy dressing can be encouraged for them to collect their money without disturbing the public. In 1965 Lady Bird Johnson pioneered the action against visual pollution on roadways, the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was implemented as a result of her efforts. Clean city law of Brazil, South America proposed by Mayor Gilberto Kassab and implemented in 2006, this has changed the panorama of the cities by removing advertisement signs, towers and billboards. Underground pipe lines or properly covered storm water drainage channels, underground electricity wiring and shielded cables could be the right mitigation for haphazard wires, pipelines or dirty storm water ditches and cables which are widely found along the road in developing countries such as India and Sri Lanka. Highways can be replaced by underground tunnels. Potholes and ugly curbside trenches, curbside weeds and oil spills have to be eliminated by municipal city maintenance. In Sri Lanka, government had declared to avoid road side banners and posters during 2015 election. Haze can be minimized by mitigating the air pollution. Eutrophication, aquatic weeds, all kinds of land, air and aquatic pollution should be mitigated under strict environmental protection measures. Visual Pollution affects the overall quality of life, it may interfere routine activities such as curiosity, education, dietary pattern, happiness and immunity. Children grown in visually polluted areas are used to the unsightly surroundings and even lose their natural ability to correct their environment. Urban beautification programmes, cleaner city programmes and establishment of greeneries could give positive results to ameliorate the vista. This book reviews the environmental aspects of visual pollution in an elaborated manner.